


Moments in Time

by ElleRett



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElleRett/pseuds/ElleRett
Summary: There are moments that shape us more than others. Moments that change the course of our lives. Moments that stay with us forever. These are a few unrelated moments in Victoria and Ripley's lives.
Relationships: Victoria Hughes/Lucas Ripley
Comments: 9
Kudos: 39





	1. The ring

**Author's Note:**

> These stories are unrelated for the most part so you may find some that contradict others. Most of the ideas have been brought on by my own crazy brain but a few come from stories that I have read here on AO and some are based loosely or closely on prompts from Madnephelite. 
> 
> I have tried to stick as close to canon as possible but most stories discount everything that happened after Vic entered the coffee house with Conlin.

“Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Vic muttered under her breath as line up came to an end and everyone scattered to start the chores they had been assigned. Sullivan had just given the longest list of chores that the team had seen in months.

As she moved to start her chores, she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She smiled as she took it out and saw she had a message from Lucas. _Jennifer showed up this morning. She’s in town for a few days. Wanted to know if you would join us for dinner tomorrow after I get home from work._

Vic sighed in frustration. It wasn’t that she didn’t like spending time with Jennifer, she did. The problem was that she had planned to finally sit down and talk to Lucas about the way forward. It had been two months since the coffee house fire that had claimed Captain Conlin’s life. Two months since they had last spoken about marriage and not being a secret anymore. In that time, they had grown closer but they were still no closer to not being a secret. She thumbed a quick reply to Lucas, mentally rescheduling their chat, and then headed into the turnout room to start her chores.

\--¨--

Five hours later, Victoria and the rest of 19 were wishing that the long list of chores had been the worst of the shift. They had already been called out to two house fires, one of which had ended with a young father dying before they could gain access. Then, just as they sat down for lunch, the klaxon had sounded again which was why they were now on their way to a multi-car pileup. From all the accounts they had received so far, it was a bad one.

“Battalion Chief Frankel is already on scene. There are ten cars involved. So far, they’ve managed to pull the occupants out of two of them. Our main concern will be getting to the cars in the center,” Sullivan briefed them over the radios as they pulled up to the scene. Victoria took a shuddering breath as she caught sight of the accident scene. She could see smoke pouring out of at least two engines and one of the cars looked like there was no chance of survival for its occupants it had been so squashed. Not wasting a second, she jumped out of the engine and moved with her team to where Frankel was shouting commands through the radio.

“Oh, good. 19. Make sure you are all on the same frequency and move carefully.” Before 19 even had a chance to respond, Frankel had shifted her focus back to the scene and Sullivan was splitting them up and delegating jobs. He paired Vic with Maya and sent them to take care of the occupants of a blue Impreza that was firmly in the center of the other vehicles. Even before she started moving Victoria could see that the doors would not be opening so she grabbed the tools she thought she needed, Maya doing the same.

Together they worked to move around and over the cars in their path.

“Grab my hand, I’ll pull you up,” Maya offered Vic her hand from her position on the top of an SVU’s bonnet. The shape reminded Vic of Lucas’s work vehicle and if it wasn’t a completely different colour she may have been panicked for a second.

Maya pulled Vic up and Vic quickly skirted around her and jumped off the other side reaching the Impreza, she could see a young woman behind the wheel, her face bloody and swollen, and the outline of a car seat behind the passenger’s side. “We have a kid,” Vic yelled moving to reach the back door of the vehicle.

“Careful Hughes. There’s smoke coming out of the car behind you,” Maya warned as she tugged helplessly at the door trapping the driver. Giving up she rounded the other side of the car to break the passenger window. As soon as she had broken it, Vic climbed through the window and moved to the back, Maya close behind her. She pulled on the blanket that covered the car seat and was relieved to find it empty.

“Seats empty. How’s the driver?”

“Alive but her pulse is slower than I would like. We should be able to move her once she is stabilized,” Maya finished her assessment and carefully put the collar on the victim.

Vic reached over from the back to help Maya. “We’re going to need a backboard.”

“I’ll go. You stay here.”

Maya exited the vehicle and Vic moved to the front so she could monitor the driver’s vitals. Her pulse was still weak, but Vic could see that she was conscious and trying to open her eyes.

“Ma’am, you’ve been in an accident. You need to stay still,” Vic reached over to try and steady the woman’s neck. As she did, the woman’s eyes opened, and Vic found herself staring into blue eyes.

The woman looked at her, tears slowly streaming down her face as she struggled to say something that Vic couldn’t make out.

“You’re going to be okay,” Vic said staring out the car to see what was taking Maya so long. She had seen enough accident victims suddenly crash to know that a few minutes could cost the woman her life. Not seeing her, she turned back to the victim and continued talking, “My name’s Vic, I’m a firefighter. Can you tell me your name?”

“Jen..Jen,” The woman struggled to form her name but after swallowing she managed to finish it, “Jenna.”

“Okay. Jenna. My partners getting a backboard. I need you to stay as still as possible until we can get you to the hospital.”

“I’m back.”

Vic was relieved to see Maya behind her and she quickly moved to allow Maya back in. She was accompanied by Miller who immediately started sifting through the tools they had brought earlier to try and find what he needed to free Jenna.

“What took you so long?”

“Sorry but one of the victims in the Corolla suddenly arrested. They needed help getting her out so they could get her to the hospital. Apparently, she’s the chief’s sister or at least that…”

But Vic had stopped listening. “Can you two get this victim out by yourselves? I need to go.”

Without waiting for a response, she pushed past Maya pressing hard on her back as she went and bolted from the car. It took her a few seconds to find the Corolla she had seen on the edge of the cars when she arrived and without stopping to think about what she was doing headed off in the direction of the Aid Car that was just a few feet away from it. Before she could reach it, however, it was gone, siren’s wailing. She felt somebody pulling on her arm and looked behind her to see Sullivan looking frightened and covered in blood.

“They managed to get her back. They’re taking her to Grey Sloan. Warren is with them. Frankel called Luke. I know that you want to help her but right now there’s nothing you can do for her,” Sullivan was cut off as Vic started to protest but before she could say anything he increased the pressure of the hold he had on her and continued, “If you suddenly rush off to the hospital, people are going to start asking questions. Your job right now is to help the people that are still trapped.”

Vic wanted to continue protesting but the realization that Luke had enough on his plate without the department finding out about their relationship made her shut her mouth. Instead, she headed over to help some firefighters from 42 that were trying to free a teenager from under a car.

\--¨--

Two and a half hours later, the last victim had been sent off to the hospital. Vic had found a few seconds to shoot off a text to Lucas and although she was sure by the phone’s vibrations a few minutes later, that he had replied she had not had time to check her messages.

19 started gathering the equipment they had used and packing it back where it belonged. Sullivan came up behind them as Miller shut the last compartment.

“Good work. Frankel has handed over and instructed that all firefighters get checked out before being put back into rotation. I heard Conlin ordering his firefighters to head to Seattle Pres. so I think it best if we go to Grey Sloan so as not to overwhelm one hospital.” As Sullivan said the last sentence his eyes drifted over to Vic who for the first time found herself wondering what exactly he knew about her relationship.

The moment they arrived at the hospital, Vic cornered De Luca and asked him to give her a quick check so she could go and check on Jennifer. Lucas had replied to her earlier text informing her that Jennifer had been taken into surgery and that he was camped out in the waiting room.

“How are the patients from the crash that came here?” Vic asked De Luca as he hooked her up to the monitors to check her vitals.

“Not sure. I worked on one of the victims, a young boy, and luckily only had minor injuries. I believe Webber’s patient may have died though. He was working on a young woman. Took her into surgery and it sounds like she bled out before they could do much damage control,” De Luca said.

Vic jumped off the bed, pulled off the monitor, and was out the door before he even had time to finish his last sentence. She had spent enough time in the hospital to be able to quickly find the waiting room. The second she arrived her eyes were drawn to the slumped figure of her boyfriend in the corner. He was leaned over with his head in his hands. Sullivan was in the chair next to him, his hand on Lucas’s back, his eyes glistening. Vic’s heart broke and it took her a moment to pull herself together so she could go over to them.

Sullivan stood as soon as she got close, a small smile on his lips. “She just got out of surgery. Doc says she’s not out of the woods and that the recovery will be long. I’m going to go check on the rest of the station.”

Vic took Sullivan’s place next to Lucas who had straightened up and turned to look at her. She grabbed his hand in hers not caring who saw them. He didn’t move away, instead he looked at her and pulled a velvet box out of his pocket. Vic felt her breath hitch.

“Jennifer came up here to give me this,” Lucas stated, his blue eyes watering slightly. There was no chief mask. His emotions were clearly showing on his face.

“Um, okay,” Vic was unsure how to respond. Part of her had hoped he was going to propose although the setting and the current situation had immediately made her feel guilty for the thought.

“It was my mother’s engagement ring. It was always meant to be for Jen but she decided that when she gets married, if she gets married she would rather the ring came from her partner so she wanted me to have it. I’ve been taking to her for months about asking you to be my wife.”

Vic felt her breath hitch again. There was so much she wanted to say but the look on his face told her he still had stuff to say.

“I’m not proposing to you right now, but I wanted to show you this and tell you how my parents died.”

Lucas and Vic had spoken about their parents a few months into their relationship and although she knew his parents died when Jennifer was still young, he had never elaborated on the how.

“My father proposed to my mother a year after they met. He didn’t have much money, so he bought her a simple engagement ring which he had engraved. She didn’t care but he always wanted her to have more. About six years after they got married, I was five at the time, my mom took it off while she was washing the dishes. I found it and not knowing any better started playing with it. Long story short, I lost the ring in the garden. My dad replaced it when we couldn’t find it with a slightly more extravagant ring. The ring was everything my mom had dreamed of as a young woman and she made sure to never let me near it. The day they died, they were on their way to a fancy dinner with some of my father’s work colleagues. They were hit by a drunk driver. My mother died instantly. My father two days later. Jen and I were devastated. The day of the funeral, Jennifer couldn’t take the pitying looks so she went outside to sit on the steps and started digging with the spade my mom always left there. I’m not sure how long she was out there for, but she managed to dig a pretty impressive hole. At the bottom of which she found my mom’s original engagement ring.”

Lucas opened the box to reveal, a silver band with a single stone set in the center. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen.

“The original stone was never found but we took the stone from the newer ring and combined them. For Jen and me, this ring has always been a reminder that no matter what, a ring is a symbol of something deeper. Our parents loved us, and we were lucky to have been raised by them.”

By now Lucas was crying. Vic got out of the seat to kneel in front of him. She wiped away the tears with her finger and leaned forward to place a small kiss on his lips.

“I love you, Lucas.”

“I know. I think some people have arrived to get you,” Lucas was looking at something behind her.

Vic glanced backwards, “Are you sure? I can stay.”

“As much as I want you to, I won’t put your job at risk. I’ll be okay,” Lucas leaned towards her to give her a slightly longer kiss. “You need to go. I will message you if anything changes.

With a fugitive glance at her boyfriend, Vic got up from her position and headed downstairs with Sullivan and Travis.

\--¨--

Jennifer was released from the hospital a week later with strict orders to take it easy. Lucas insisted that she stay with him while she was recovering and in the two and a half weeks that followed Vic got to know her future sister-in-law better. Jennifer told her stories of Lucas as a child much to his chagrin. She even went as far as to pull out an old album that had pictures from their youth.

The day after she left, Lucas came home eager to take Vic out for dinner. Vic changed into her favourite jeans, shirt, and jacket. Lucas showered quickly, threw on some jeans and one of his many sweaters. Within the hour they were out the door and on their way.

Arriving at the diner, they sat in their usual booth and order their usual meals. It was only when Lucas insisted on ordering dessert that Vic got the sense that the evening was anything but usual and as the desserts arrived her suspicions were confirmed. Instead of two plates, Cam brought out three. He placed the piece of apple pie in front of Lucas, the brownie in front of Vic, and the third, smaller plate in the center. As soon as he did. Vic recognized the engagement ring and she felt tears well in her eyes as she read the words that were on the edge of the plate. _Marry me._


	2. The Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas and Victoria's daughter pops into Lucas's office while at work with Vic.

_2024_

Lucas rubbed warily at his face trying to shift his focus back to the incident report that he was currently reviewing. It had been a long day only made longer by an emergency meeting that had been called to discuss the incident. As usual, the meeting coincided with plans he had already made with his family. It was the opening night of his four-year old’s first preschool recital. A recital that he and Vic had promised Halle they would be at. 

Lucas dropped his pen in frustration and took a drink of water. The meeting was scheduled to start in an hour, the recital in two. If he could somehow keep the meeting short, he could still make good on his promise. Laughing at the naivety of the idea, Lucas turned back to the report and started reading.

_Higgins and James of Station 42 were the first to enter the building. They both stated that they did not note anything suspicious upon entry and neither remember seeing the pair of pink…_

Before Lucas could find out what Higgins and James had not remembered seeing, he was interrupted by the sound of his door opening. He looked up expecting to see his assistant, but instead caught sight of the small round face of his daughter who was peeking into his office. Halle looked strikingly like her mother. The only difference was the blue eyes that she had inherited from him. Her personality, however, was more aligned with her father’s. Her thought process was logical and unrushed although she could sometimes react instinctively when she felt strongly about something. Dropping his pen once more, Lucas swiveled his chair slightly as Halle made her way towards him. He picked her up as soon as she reached him, a huge grin on his face.

“Hi, superstar.”

“Daddy,” Halle leaned into her father.

From early on, it had been clear to everyone that Halle had her father wrapped around her little finger. Lucas never once tried to deny it.

“Are you excited about tonight?” Lucas asked, regret once again gnawing at his insides.

“Teacher Sue said that I can stand in front at the end,” Halle said jumping slightly in her father’s arms, “So I can see you and mommy.”

“You mean mommy and Brayden?” Lucas clarified.

“And you.”

Lucas looked at the face of his excited four-year-old slowly coming to the realization that she had no idea he was no longer going. Hoping to defer the disappointment he asked, “Where is your mom?”

“In her office. She said she needed to do something quickly.” Halle pulled out of Lucas’s grasp and slunk to the floor. Without asking she opened the second drawer of his desk and started rifling through the many snacks Lucas kept until she found something not healthy.

Vic had taken up a job in the academy a few months after returning from her second maternity leave a year ago. An accident during a call had left her in critical condition and burned her lungs to the point doctors had advised active firefighting was not in her best interests for the foreseeable future. While the incident had caused recurring nightmares for both Lucas and Vic, part of Lucas had been relieved that he wouldn’t have to worry about her quite as much for a few years. The three days that he had to answer his toddler's worried questions about Vic’s location while he waited to see if she would live or not were amongst the worst he had ever experienced and the thought of one day having to tell his children that their mother was dead was unthinkable.

Vic’s office was now just two floors away from Lucas’s and although they traveled together most days, they made a point to limit their contact while at work.

Grabbing the chocolate bar from her hand, Lucas turned Halle to face him, “Halle, does your mother know you’re with me?”

“Yesss,” Halle answered, her eyes tipping her father off to her lie.

Lucas raised his eye, “Really? So, if I phone your mom right now and ask her where you are, what will she say?”

“She’s with her father,” Victoria piped up from the doorway.

Lucas looked up in surprise. He had been convinced Halle was lying.

“No, she didn’t ask me, I just figured that she wouldn’t go anywhere else,” Victoria answered his unasked question. She was still in her uniform and had Brayden on her hip. He was squirming to be put down which Vic quickly did.

Brayden toddled towards the desk but instead of going to Lucas he stretched up and reached for the stapler that he had become obsessed with the last time he was in the office. At home, Lucas and Vic had been forced to hide the stapler along with everything else that Brayden tended to become distracted by. At work, Lucas had not quite got around to putting the same safety measures in place.

“’apler,” Brayden said, his grin warming Lucas’s heart. He reached forward to push the stapler closer to the edge to make it easier for his son to reach.

“There’s no staples,” he informed Vic catching sight of her exacerbated expression.

“There better not be,” Victoria said moving closer to Brayden to watch what he was doing carefully.

Lucas watched his wife and children for a few minutes before catching sight of the time. “Halle why don’t you take Brayden into the other room and share the chocolate with him.”

Halle took the chocolate in her right hand and moved towards Brayden. Vic had already seized the stapler and although he had started to protest the sight of chocolate in his sister’s hands quickly killed the pending tantrum. Vic and Lucas watched them head into his bunk before talking.

“Not sure if you read my message but I have a meeting,” Lucas said now facing her.

“No, I uh, I saw that. We just have a slight problem,” Vic was scratching behind her ear looking uncomfortable.

“Look, Eggy, I know I promised Halle but…”

“Yeah, um, not the problem. Well it is but it’s not the whole problem,” Vic rambled moving closer to her husband. “I was called into the meeting too.”

“What?”

“One of my recruits was visiting Station 42 today. Captain O’Brien is alleging she is the reason they never noticed there was a third person in the house,” Vic sat at the edge of his desk playing with the stapler she had confiscated.

“Can’t somebody else go?”

“I already tried that argument. Turns out being married to the Chief definitely doesn’t have its perks.” They both chuckled at her statement. They had realised before their relationship went public that there would never be any perks professionally for either of them. Over time they had learnt to take the criticism, judgment,and doubt in their stride.

“Yeah well being the chief doesn’t even seem to be any use in this situation either,” Lucas stood from his chair and put his hands on either side of Vic. Even after 5 years together the attraction was obvious. Their sex life had been a running source of entertainment when she was still at 19, as a result, and they had both been left red-faced on more than one occasion after a joke at their expense.

“Surely. There is something you can do,” Vic’s voice was low. She placed her arms around his neck. “I mean this is Halle’s first recital. I know there will be times when we really can’t make something they do, but to miss the first one…”

“I know.” Lucas sighed starting to run his left hand comfortingly down her thigh. He thought back to his earlier idea to have the shortest meeting possible. That was never going to happen which was maybe the exact argument he needed to postpone the meeting. Smiling he leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Vic’s lips then made to pull away.

“You have an idea,” Vic said as he sat down and started rifling through his top drawer.

Before he could reply, they were interrupted by the shrill of his office line. Lucas groaned as he picked it up.

“Ripley.”

Vic listened to his side of the conversation while watching the varied emotions that crossed his face.

“Yes,Marquez.” Ripley leaned back in his chair. “That may be a bit difficult… Yes, of course... Well in that case we’ll have to convene tomorrow.”

Lucas smiled as he placed the phone down and jumped out of the chair. He reminded Vic of Brayden when he saw something he really wanted. Wasting no time, Lucas poked his head out of the office, issued an instruction to his assistant Anne and then came back in firmly shutting the door behind him. Before Vic could even ask what was happening, he had in a deep kiss that had her toes tingling.

“Um…Okay,” Vic said as they broke apart, grinning at her husband’s enthusiasm.

“Battalion Chief Marquez was called to a scene. He won’t make it back for a few hours at least. Given that 42 in his Battalion, it would be useless having the meeting without him. So, it’s been postponed till tomorrow. Which means…”

“We can go watch our daughter,” Vic cut him off, his enthusiasm rubbing off on her. Not waiting for confirmation, Vic picked up the kissing thanking her lucky stars that things had worked out for them at least this once.

Before their make-out could become anything more, they were interrupted by their son's wail. Laughing silently, they shared one more, quick kiss before heading into their bunk to continue their evening with their kids.


End file.
